Goal: Promote healthy, realistic ideals about the human body by not photoshopping models.

Chances are if you’re looking at an ad with a model in it, you’re seeing a completely distorted image of what’s actually there. Instead of showing the human form as it really is, advertising agencies brush away wrinkles and shave pounds off of waistlines. The practice of photoshopping models has lead many to believe that their bodies should look like something that is impossible, even undesirable, to achieve. Advertising is already used as a tool to make people feel discontent with what they have so that they’ll buy more. As if that’s not bad enough, it is also responsible for making people feel discontent with their bodies. Tell the advertising industry we no longer want to see photoshopped images of models.

Photoshop has been creating unrealistic expectations for years. Women are seemingly meant to have breasts or waistlines that are disproportionate with the rest of the female body. Older models have smooth, wrinkle-free faces. These photos show poor taste and misguided priorities. The human body in all its forms should be celebrated, not digitally mutilated. The idea that people of a certain age shouldn’t have wrinkles or that women should have a certain breast size cause many to feel the need to flock to doctors’ offices for dangerous procedures like Botox and plastic surgery.

Recently, the American Medical Association denounced the practice of photoshopping models, saying it leads many people to have an unhealthy self-image. It stated that exposure to these ads, especially among young children and adolescents, can even lead to disordered eating or extreme, unhealthy dieting. Is it really worth it to advertisers to make people feel dangerously bad about themselves just so they can sell this season’s fashion trends?

Technology should be used to promote the general well-being of the masses. But in the case of Photoshop, it is being used to create unrealistic and unhealthy perceptions about the human form. Don’t let the advertising industry dictate how we’re supposed to look and feel about ourselves. Tell it that we want to see fine lines and wrinkles. We want to see birthmarks. We want to see what breasts and thighs really look like. These are what make each of us unique individuals. By signing this petition, we can tell the advertising industry to stop photoshopping models and instead to celebrate people’s natural and unique beauty.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear U.S. Advertising Industry,

You’ve taken a lot of heat over the years for your use of Photoshop to distort the human body. As if existing to make people feel bad about their lives so they’ll buy more products isn’t bad enough, now you have to make people feel bad about natural occurrences like growing older or having a bit of fat on their bodies? The outdated and dehumanizing practice of photo retouching needs to end. Natural beauty needs to be celebrated, not digitally mutilated.

Photoshop has led some to have dangerously unrealistic expectations about their own bodies. Not only are digitally altered photos sometimes responsible for unhealthy and unrealistic expectations for how people should look, but the practice of altering photos is even leading some to engage in dangerous dieting behaviors. We urge you to celebrate the body in all its unique forms by not photoshopping models in ads.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: izismile.com

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